Even though gay fashn is stereotyped pop culture, s history is anythg but basic. Let's disver s evolutn.
Contents:
IN SEARCH OF A GAY ATHETIC
At a new Fashn Instute of Technology show, an attempt to wre gay men and lbians ‘back to history.’ * gay fashion history *
In fact, ’s bee the gay trendsetters of yteryear worked so hard that we n lace up our thigh-high boots and tie our giant bows wh nfince. The balls were some of the first gay nways, lip sync battl, and dance petns and are still held today even as the world be more acceptg of the queer muny fashn. Well to the 1900s, balls ntued (and still ntue) to happen, but gay fashn go beyond meetg for secret shdigs.
In a world where 70 untri still ll illegal to be gay, queer people have long had to e fashn to signal to other queer people whout the homophobic members of their societi pickg up on the fashn nuanc.
By the 1980s, beme more acceptable to show off gay fashn. In Pri paras around the world, leather fashn beme synonymo wh gay men.
EVOLUTN OF GAY FASHN: STEREOTYP TO SELF-EXPRSN
Over the last 20-30 years, well-loved celebri have paved the way for the Average Gay Joe to wear what he or she fds fashnable whout as much fear of retributn. Once ught on, the green rnatn beme a ht amongst his peers that the wearer was a gay man. In a time where beg gay was not socially acceptable, the flower was ed to secretly intify one’s self, a reasong which would ntue throughout queer fashn.
In the 1980’s, gay men ed ear piercgs to signal to one another their sexualy. While piercgs general were beg more normalized, gay men saw a sgle piercg the right ear as an intifier for queerns. The lack of safety for gay men meant that secrecy was ccial, so the piercgs were a form of munitn that allowed them to regnize one another whout havg to out themselv.
But when one particular look cropped up the post-Stonewall gay scene of the 1970s, was so popular—and so distct—that the guys who sported were dismissed as “clon. )And while the nickname was ially pejorative, the clone perd marked perhaps the first time that gay men prented themselv wh a queer-signalg uniform that was a direct rponse to societal stereotyp.